CAMELLIA | Destiny

The glaring sun beat down on a spring afternoon for Kyoto University’s first soccer practice of the semester. Yuri dashes onto the field with his breath in haste as he rushes to make it to practice on time. He sees the others positioned around the field, and he tries to sneak past his coach and manager when he hears the familiar swoosh of the net when someone has made a score.

Yuri hears a loud ‘GOAL!’ and the instant following of a couple of crowded girls on the sideline screaming in cheer.

“Amazing,” the manager says. “That’s the fifth score he’s made in a row.”

“He’s on a professional level. Our team can’t keep up at all. Even our goalie isn’t fast enough,” the coach adds.

“Who is that?” Yuri asks.

“You’re late.” 

“Sorry.” Yuri shrugs with a guilty laugh, and the manager clicks her tongue at him before answering his question.

“He’s a new junior transfer student.”

She looks back onto the field where the rest of the team is in the middle of a play, and Yuri follows suit. 

The transfer student is seen running around the field, surrounded by jersey shirts, pursuing him. As the ball gets passed his way, he takes the lead, and in a swift movement, the ball is kicked forward. It goes straight into the net as the goalie skids across the grass in a failed attempt to counter it, and the crowd screams. The coach blows the whistle, and the team huddles around the new student.

The team captain is the first to approach him. “Woah! You’re crazy good, man! You’re really not some professional player?” 

“Not at all,” he laughs. “I’ve played since middle school but stopped in my second year of high school. So I’m pretty rusty.”

“Rusty—” the captain chokes, and the sound of laughter from the other team players fills the field. 

Now that the practice game came to an end, Yuri started to make his way over to the crowded team in the center of the field. The sun glared strongly as Yuri squinted his eyes to see who’s got everyone's attention, and as the thin clouds moved in front, casting a shadow over the field, Yuri caught a glimpse of someone from his past.

He shakes his head, continuing to trudge forward until about a yard away. As the cast overhead grew darker, the clearer everything became, and there was no longer mistaking who he saw. 

The transfer student turned his head, looking past the team of jerseys around him and to the oncomer. His face became clear under the calm sun as their eyes met, and Yuri felt his breath catch in his throat. Standing completely still, mind still trying to comprehend it all, he tells himself, “There’s no way.”

“I’m the captain of this team, by the way. Shobu Ishida. Just call me Sho—and you?”

“Tsubaki. Tsubaki Fujihara,” the transfer student answers swiftly, and a thud is heard. Yuri’s water bottle had fallen out of his grip and hit the ground as all eyes turned.

“… Tsubaki?” Yuri repeats.

A smile goes across his face as he says, “Hey, Yuri. Long time no see.” 

And for a moment, Yuri’s arms fall limp beside him. 

“What do you mean ‘long time no see’?” 

There was a brief pause of silence until Yuri’s mouth curved up into a grin. Dashing forward, he tightly pulls Tsubaki into a bear hug and beams, “Where’ve you been, man?! It’s great to see you again!”

Tsubaki was stunned until he heard the same bright voice waver just the slightest as it asked him, “Are you really back?” 

A soft smile goes across his face as he relaxes into the embrace.

“Yeah … I’m back.”

“Yuri, you know him?”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since we were kids.” Yuri shakes his head like he can’t believe his eyes. “You moved away in our second year of high school—man, it’s been…”

“Four years,” Tsubaki finishes.

“So you officially transferred here? You’re really a student here now?” Yuri asks with the brightest glint in his eyes, and when he’s assured with a nod, the corner of his mouth fails to keep still as it turns into a large grin.

Tsubaki let out a relieved chuckle, watching his excited childhood friend ask him which department he was in, and he answered, “Business.”

He listens and answers the many questions Yuri spews out like an excited puppy whose gleeful smile puts him at ease, and his expression softens.

“He hasn't changed one bit,” he naively thought.

✻ ✻ ✻

Tsubaki Fujihara was a special case who transferred into the spring term starting as a junior undergraduate like Yuri. With transferring into a department three years ahead of the program, Tsubaki did have to catch up on some major topics, but since he managed his studies abroad, it was rather easy for him to adjust.

It had already been a few weeks since he began attending Kyoto University. Tsubaki put away his class materials and threw his bag over his arm before making his way out of the lecture hall. As he leaves the business department building, a familiar voice calls out to him.

“Yo, Tsubaki!” Tsubaki stops in his tracks and turns to see Yuri jogging over to him. “You’re free for a bit before your next lecture, right? Let’s go eat lunch together with the others!” And without answering back, Yuri slings his arm over Tsubaki and starts to drag him along with the brightest smile in his eyes.

Tsubaki later finds himself sitting at a table in their campus’ outdoor food lounge. He takes a glance to his right, where Yuri is seated next to him. Then, his gaze slowly hovers forward, and his eyes see the two people seated on the other end of the bench.

Shobu Ishida—Sho for short—is a senior undergraduate and the university’s soccer team captain. He’s also Yuri’s dorm roommate, so they’ve interacted plenty of times already. With Sho’s open and friendly nature, Tsubaki found him easy to be around.

Sitting next to Sho was the soccer team’s manager and second-year graduate student, Holly Kasai. And if Tsubaki thought the captain had an easy-going aura, he’d have to say the curly, redheaded manager was the complete opposite with her intimidating cat-like eyes and aloof posture.

Then there’s himself: Yuri’s childhood friend, Tsubaki Fujihara, who just transferred here after basically living MIA abroad for four years.

Tsubaki takes a sip of his canned soda as he just simply listens to the flowing conversation the others at the table have among themselves. A chuckle is heard from Yuri while listening to the bicker between his other two friends.

“Just let me have one,” Sho nagged. “You’re seriously gonna eat that all by yourself? You got a large.”

“Huh?” Holly side-eyed. 

Her stare doesn’t move as she continues eating her fries, almost as if to provoke him while trying to keep a straight face against his pouting one. 

“Hm.” She raises a brow as she says, “Take one then … I dare you.”

Tsubaki hides a smile behind his drink, and Yuri gives warning eyes to Sho as he furiously shakes his head. Sho then lets out a sigh and crosses his arms over the table as a show of defeat. He then props an arm up to lean on as he looks forward.

“By the way, Yuri.” Sho tilts his head. “Where’s Ren been lately?”